Sockeye H'ors Drawers for Christmas Eve...

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daveomak

SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster
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Nov 12, 2010
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Omak,Washington,U.S.A.
Soooo, the sockeye was filleted, the pin bones pulled, cut into "pick me up and eat me" sized chunks, weighed, the correct amount of my salmon mix with cure #1 added, per weight, zip bagged and in the beer fridge for 2 days.... Had to wait for the rain to quit and humidity to lower a bit.....

Got the fish rinsed and dried... on wire racks and on top of the pellet stove with a fan blowing on it.... took about an hour or two for the pellicle to form..... smoker was warmed up and ready.....
In goes the fish.... in goes the slice/cookie of Alder my buddies bring me from the coast.... they actually bring me long logs and I cut the slices.... It takes 2 cookies and about 6 hours till the fish is done.... IT about 138.... It is moist and just the right amount of smoke.... I'm guessing this old smoker has done around 5,000#'s of fish over the 28-30 years...

...Click on pics to enlarge....

... Drying........ ...pellicle formed...... ...perfect pellicle......

... ....
.... in the smoker..... done..... done...... and done and plated.....
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...
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...The Alder cookie..... The modified Totem Smoker..... It needed a bigger burner to combat the cold temps here in Eastern Washington...
... ... ...

....And IMNSHO.... (in my not so humble opinion)..... The best smoker ever designed and built to smoke fish....
 
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Reactions: Bearcarver
Sure looks like a winner to me Dave.  The plate of bite size pieces looks at least as good as a plate of Christmas cookies.  (And as hard to keep your fingers off of).
 
your my HERO .......
well at least one of them ....  LOL
used to use an electric chainsaw with veg oil in it to cut pucks off our huge cherry tree years ago when i lived down south...
you seem a bit stingy with the recipe Dave !!!!
 

Goliath 
drool.gif
 
your my HERO .......

well at least one of them ....  LOL

used to use an electric chainsaw with veg oil in it to cut pucks off our huge cherry tree years ago when i lived down south...

you seem a bit stingy with the recipe Dave !!!!

 
Goliath  :drool

50:50... W:W... salt:sugar + spices + cure #1
I use 2% salt and 2% sugar which is 4% of the mix on the fish.... at 200 Ppm nitrite max allowable per FDA, that's 3.2 grams cure #1 per 1000 grams of fish... so, 4% or 40 grams of mix per 1000 grams of fish needs 3.2 grams of cure per 40 grams of mix....

So the recipe is 500 grams salt + 500 grams of sugar + spices + 80 grams of cure #1.... then add the mix at 4% of the fish weight.... at room temp, moisture will be sucked out of the fish and dissolve the mix... that's OK... then it will be re adsorbed into the meat.. into a zip bag for a couple days (if the fish is 1/2" or less)... turning a couple times a day... add water to the bag and gently rinse... remove and rinse and dry... form the pellicle and smoke at 80 ish while raising the smoker temp, slowly, to 150 ish.... in several hours, the fish will reach 135-140 ish .... hold there for awhile and it's done.... If you see oils start to ooze from the meat, turn the smoker temp down 5 deg or so.... fat out is worse on fish, than it is on sausages...


Looks Beautiful, Dave!!!Thumbs Up

Mighty Tasty!!:drool -------------------:points:


Bear

Thanks Bear.....


That there is mouth candy-   B E U tiful....     Alder cookie, love it!

Thanks Mbogo

Looks great Dave..mine did not last 3 days...

I was told, under no uncertain terms....... Keep you hands off the fish.... It's for Christmas Eve..... by, you guessed it.... SWMBO.... Bride...
 
Nice load of salmon Dave! Sure wish I still had my Big Chief Smoker. I really need a dedicated fish smoker. I don't care what everyone says the fish smell, especially I'd you smoke tuna lingers in the smoker. After my fish trifecta smoke I had to clean the darn GOSM twice, then do three 6 hour smokes to get the fish smell out! Ughhh!
 
Dave, that is an amazing looking dish. I just love smoked salmon and wish I could afford to make it more often. Terrific job sir.

Disco
 
Dave, that is an amazing looking dish. I just love smoked salmon and wish I could afford to make it more often. Terrific job sir.

Disco


Thank you Disco....
I wish my old skipper lived closer and dropped off sockeye more often.... Bride and I were just discussing that... more sockeye, more often.... repeat.... repeat....
 
Hey Dirt.... You got that right...... By the way.... I'm eating the smoked sockeye as I type..... DARN stuff is more awesome today.... WOWZERS.....

...

Yeah I've always liked smoked fish better a day or two later. I will say though I could've eaten that smoked tuna belly day one until I was sick!
 
Yeah I've always liked smoked fish better a day or two later. I will say though I could've eaten that smoked tuna belly day one until I was sick!

I used to fish out of Newport.... I ran out 70 miles and stayed a couple days and fished albacore.... Albacore belly on the BBQ was the most awesome stuff I ever ate.....
 
You know what's the best?   Is when you have smoked a bunch of Salmon filet's  or nuggets,  fridge them overnight in a large Tupperware box to mellow out.  Next day while you are munching on a couple pieces while vacuum sealing the rest, check out the juices at the bottom of the Tupperware.  OMG!  Can you say "Sweet honey nectar from the Salmon gods".  About two TBSP's pure yumminess which I immediately down.  Sluurrpppp!
 
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